He’s Counting on the Power of Positive Thinking to Get Idea off the Ground

The contraption sitting in a Santa Ana warehouse looks like a bright-red, ungainly bird. But inventor Michael Brace is betting that bird will be the first successful human-powered helicopter.

“I want to show it can be done,” Brace said as he sat in his pedal-operated helicopter. “My goal is to have this machine wind up in the Smithsonian as one of the first of its kind.”

Brace, an engineer for Reynolds & Taylor, a manufacturer of plastic products, is seeking the American Helicopter Society’s $20,000 prize for the first human-powered helicopter operated under controlled flight.

Under contest rules, the lowest part of the helicopter must hover at least 10 feet above the ground and maintain flight within a 35-square-foot area for one minute.

So far, Brace’s helicopter only “hops,” he said, but he predicts liftoff within a month.

“This is just the prototype. The rotors are fine, but I just got to rebuild the transmission so it will take off.”

Made with bicycle parts and high-tech lightweight plastic, Brace’s helicopter weighs about 65 pounds and carries a pilot weighing up to 150 pounds.

Brace got the idea about two years ago, when his father, an executive for Sikorsky Aircraft, a helicopter manufacturer, mentioned the contest.

“I always thought of building one. But I could never have done this on my own. The cost and the technology were too overwhelming,” Brace said.

When Brace started working for Reynolds & Taylor in May after six years as a Marine Corps flier, he realized that the company manufactured most of the material he needed.

After four months, he proposed the idea to the company president, who agreed to donate most of the material, including the 14-foot blades. So far, the helicopter has cost the company $100,000.

“It’s definitely going to make it,” Brace boasted. “I’ve spent more time and dimes on this, and nothing else can compare to it.”